Sarah Palin and the Religion of Ecstacy

Appearing at The Jaundiced Eye, the Independent Bloggers' Alliance, and My Left Wing. Recently, in her Huffington Post blog, Naomi Wolf compared Sarah Palin to Eva Peron. Now, there's an analogy that becomes more apt every day. Like any peasant girl from the outskirts, Sarah Palin needs to dress the part of a political luminary. While Palin's transformation from hockey mom to fashion plate has raised eyebrows, her "SNL" character, played by Tina Fey, has remained firmly in the red jacket. And according to Women's Wear Daily's Irin Carmon, "SNL" costume designer Tom Broecker said Wednesday night that dressing Palin for last Saturday's cameo required a compromise: Of Palin, Broecker said, "In speaking with her, I had to get her to understand why she needed to wear the same thing as Tina [Fey]. We had gone off and created it for the first time a month ago, a look we identified as Sarah Palin. She had moved on in her own image of herself. I said, 'I know you've moved on ­ you're wearing tighter clothes, more black ­ but this is the character of Sarah Palin.'" Silly SNL dresser. She needs to dress for her descamisados, up there in Alaska. (They're very cold.) Besides, as John McCain says, "She needed clothes." (Well, ok. But does her seven year old really need a Louis Vuitton bag?) The McCain campaign assures us the clothes will go to charity. What they don't tell you: She'll be throwing them from a balcony. "Please understand what you are looking at when you look at Sarah "Evita" Palin. You are looking at the designated muse of the coming American police state." -- Naomi Wolf

A miracle brewing in West By-God Virginia

Crossposted from Left Toon Lane, Bilerico Project & My Left Wing click to enlarge Voting for a Black Man (tm) in West Virginia is a new concept which is strangely being embraced by the people of the Mountain State. Having lived my early years and having most of my family come from West Virginia, I am shocked beyond belief that West Virginians are supporting Obama. When I was in 5th Grade in Athens, WV, there was on African American in our school. The horrific verbal and racist abuse she took was unimaginable. That was 32 years ago and maybe things have changed dramatically over that period. Maybe I am shocked because I still see WV through the lens of my family that still lives there. My wife and I wonder if one of my uncles (hard right-wing nut) will vote for McCain because he hates Blacks so much or will he vote for Obama because the Republicans have wiped out his retirement? I think he will vote for Obama because money tends to win out over hate. Remember the Montgomery Bus Boycott? The Whites of Montgomery, Alabama refused to let Blacks ride in the front of the bus - but once Dr. King organized a boycott of the bus lines, funds for the bus lines dried up and they city capitulated. Money won out. Maybe money will win out in West Virginia in November. The state has never been awash in cash, the state has mostly been looted of natural resources and the cash ended up in the private bank accounts of the coal barons. But West Virginians certainly notice when what few dollars they have disappear. Most live so close to the bone, a slight increase in gas prices can have tremendous impacts on household budgets, so when gas hits 4 bucks, it is a disaster. A total, economic disaster. Now, add on top of that the job losses, shrinking college grants, a panicked stock market and vanishing retirement savings you then see the ugly picture that is the West Virginia economy. Miracles can happen... they can happen in West Virginia.

McCain to Black America: You Don’t Matter

Crossposted from Left Toon Lane, Bilerico Project & My Left Wing click to enlarge Last night's debate was a huge loss and campaign mess for the McCain camp. McCain clearly lost the debate, even Fox News agrees to this. McCain lost RedState.com readers and Free Republicers - his core wingnuts. But more importantly McCain displayed his internal racial hatred for African Americans. Last night when he was asked a question by a member of the audience, McCain would turn and face them, in fact, he would get right in front of them and engage the questioner one-on-one. He even shook the hand of one man. This is true unless you were Black. When Blacks asked the question, McCain treated each one with disrespect. He called one Black gentleman the wrong name, he was condescending to another in reference to Fannie Mae and then there was Ingrid. Ingrid, a Black woman, asked McCain a question on how he would get Congress moving fast to on environmental issues. McCain didn't look her in the eye, he turned his back to her and started chatting with a white guy. This is more evidence of what I call McCain's Folksy Racism, they are non-verbal cues, body language that belies the true feelings of an individual. He embraces the White folks and ignores the Blacks. Probably the thing that makes him the most angry is that he cannot ignore Obama. Lastly, I found it remarkable that McCain left the debate floor within seconds of the end of the debate, the Obamas, hung-out and shook hands and took pictures with the audience. This went on for awhile... and the news outlets let the cameras roll.

Anything can be true in Wingnut Land

Crossposted from Left Toon Lane, Bilerico Project & My Left Wing click to enlarge Seriously, does this cartoon make any sense? I think it does, but you must live in Wingnut Land for you to get it. I have come to believe that Wingnutters live in some sort of Roddenberrian universe of parallel realities all intersecting at once. How else can you explain their belief in so many wrong-headed "if then else" statements? 4+Blue=Terrorist Makes perfect sense, right? When I watch Hannity or read RedState, I really wonder what reality they live in. A world filled with inconsistent and shifting logical operators? Maybe a world awash with bullshit. With McCain's and Palin's audiences shouting "terrorist" and "kill him" at the mention of Barack Obama's name and the racial slurs shouted at media camera crew personnel, it shows that anything goes as long as it forwards their agenda. If I were to make those associations, the above cartoon would tend to make sense. If Bush is like McCain, then Palin is like Bin Laden. Makes perfect sense.

RedStater diet now includes Prozac

Crossposted from Left Toon Lane, Bilerico Project & My Left Wing click to enlarge I always find it refreshing to read what the wingnuts are thinking. I haven't visited RedState.com in some time and I was shocked to see how beaten down they feel. I guess denial does have its limits. Some of them, however, seem to have left reality altogether. The Democrats never think this way, and they never pay in the long run for it. They never take their medicine, they never lose to win, they never rebuild. They just cry a little, then get back to winning. They never give us a day's rest. Let's not give up or even let up for a second, so that we don't give them a day's rest. How Will We Treat President Obama? Call him an imbecile and a liar and blame him for everything that goes wrong in the world? Just like the Dems treated George W. Bush? I, for one, hope we do. I will never acknowledge the America hating Obama as my president. It is his party and his ilk that are in the process of destroying a great economy and a great country. I think the failure of the Bush presidency is because of his inability to fight back in a hyperpartisan world. Republicans always seem to bring a knife to a bazooka fight. I knew McCain was going to be the wrong man at the wrong time. All his "Can't we all just get along?" and "I know how to work across party lines" rhetoric is not what was needed at this time. He needed to portray Obama as evil incarnate and I knew he didn't have the stomach for it. It's the start of the third, they've just run one back for a TD and the head coach (McCain) is still in the locker room mumbling pointless crap about earmarks and bipartisanship. Today, he is asked about the bias of the moderator and what does he say? Mindless empty crap about how he is "sure" she'll be professional and unbiased. <..> You are not going to win this by being nice, you are not going to win this by playing fair, you are not going to win this calling the same plays that worked in the first quarter... McCain either can lose and cuddle with his old pals at the New York Times, or win and lead a nation in crisis. The next quote really magnifies why Obama will win. Their ideology of "win at any cost" is wholly anti-American. I'm... not going to sugar coat what we are up against. And in situations where standing up for our principles is going to cost us the election, I'm going to say so. Don't get me wrong, I don't disrespect principled stands, but I do disrespect principled stands made out of stubbornness without regard for consequences. If anyone wants to give up, please remind them that the Supreme Court is only one judge away from dismantling the Constitution. (5-4) An Obama presidency would likely make that 7-2 against the Constitution. If that doesn't scare them, take their temperature. Obamabots have invaded my neighborhood and my next door neighbor is proudly brandishing an Obama/Biden sign. I admire McCain for wanting to stick to the issues while Obama is running against George W. Bush, but he needs to fight back. If only..... We know Ifil is a partisan stooge; she will show Sarah no respect. Sarah should thus be completely unrestrained. I want to see some of that "Sarah Barracuda"! A tru WTF moment... You've got to realistic. We're staring down a huge tidal wave this year, one that's been engineered since the 60's. And I believe we have the wrong candidate to repel this wave. Even with the MSM in the tank for the Obamarxist, there is simply no way that a person of his community organizing ilk, lack of experience and unashamed Marxist views should ever be a nominee of a major party. Unless McCain and some coordinated 527s are planning a media blitz the last 4 weeks of the campaign that goes relentlessly negative and truthful and personal towards Obama, there seems like there is simply no way to win this thing. The media is explaining the whole financial crisis as capitalism run amok, and McCain is letting them!!!! We keep hearing from the Dems that this is what happens when you don't regulate things and everyone is letting the argument stand.

Retiring the Straight Talk Express

Crossposted from Left Toon Lane, Bilerico Project & My Left Wing click to enlarge Today McCain has suspended his campaign to "deal with the economic crisis." I guess we need to say good bye to the Straight Talk Express. But no one is buying the horseshit. From THE David Letterman: "You don't suspend your campaign. This doesn't smell right. This isn't the way a tested hero behaves." And he joked: "I think someone's putting something in his metamucil." "He can't run the campaign because the economy is cratering? Fine, put in your second string quarterback, Sara Palin. Where is she?" "What are you going to do if you're elected and things get tough? Suspend being president? We've got a guy like that now!" It didn't end there. It got worse... Then in the middle of the taping Dave got word that McCain was, in fact just down the street being interviewed by Katie Couric. Dave even cut over to the live video of the interview, and said, "Hey Senator, can I give you a ride home?" Perfect. With this stunt on top of the Palin banning of reporters, it is not shaping up as a smart move for McCain. The thing that really keep me scratching my head is why are the GOP control monkeys letting this go on? I swear, to be such a herd of control freaks, you would think they would have tossed McCain out on his ass and installed Romney as their savior. Then again, I am more than happy to see the rotting carcass of the GOP completely implode.

It's All About Money

The Washington Post: Economic Fears Give Obama Clear Lead Over McCain in Poll Turmoil in the financial industry and growing pessimism about the economy have altered the shape of the presidential race, giving Democratic nominee Barack Obama the first clear lead of the general-election campaign over Republican John McCain, according to the latest Washington Post-ABC News national poll. Just 9 percent of those surveyed rated the economy as good or excellent, the first time that number has been in single digits since the days just before the 1992 election. Just 14 percent said the country is heading in the right direction, equaling the record low on that question in polls dating back to 1973. More voters trust Obama to deal with the economy, and he currently has a big edge as the candidate who is more in tune with the economic problems Americans now face. He also has a double-digit advantage on handling the current problems on Wall Street, and as a result, there has been a rise in his overall support. The poll found that, among likely voters, Obama now leads McCain by 52 percent to 43 percent. Two weeks ago, in the days immediately following the Republican National Convention, the race was essentially even, with McCain at 49 percent and Obama at 47 percent. It's still the economy, stupid. It transcends race, age, gender, class, sexual orientation, and ideology. It's the 800-lb. gorilla taking a shit in the corner of the room and people can't ignore the smell anymore. Watching Wall Street go up and down like a speeding, out-of-control roller coaster will do that. Unemployment, foreclosures, the cost of everything spiraling up, up and away. As one of my favorite rap songs goes, "It's all about money, ain't a damned thing funny." In the end, corny as it sounds, the only color that voters are going to care about is going to be green. Translation: "Sure, the n--er, black guy is uppity, but he won't fuck up my 401K." Enlightenment isn't far behind when there's a dollar bill in your wallet dying of loneliness.

What does a bad economy look like to McCain?

Crossposted from Left Toon Lane, Bilerico Project & My Left Wing click to enlargeWith the biggest market collapse since 9-11-01 and the worst economy since the Great Depression, what DOES a bad economy look like to John McCain? That is the answer I want from the Straight Talk Express. If he thinks things are glorious today, what does suck look like? Is it when billionaires start losing massive equity or has to work two jobs? Or maybe it is when Carly Fiorina gets fired from two jobs? Just what exactly? Maybe a bad economy is when John McCain has to sell off 5 of his 10 houses? Maybe it is when his wife, Cindy, has to start wearing outfits that cost less than Joe Biden’s net worth? Ohhh… the suffering. And you know, after being a POW where Buddhism once flourished, you would have thought McCain would have learned something about suffering.

Very Bad Things

In A Nutshell

Ladies and Gentlemen, John McCain. A maverick who has supported George Bush 90% of the time, an ex-POW who votes against veterans, a scrappy fighter who never met a lobbyist he didn't like, and a loyal husband who dumped his first wife when she got sick and called his present wife the "C-word" during a argument. Don't say you haven't been warned.

Undecided

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Palin Speaks With Press

Crossposted from Left Toon Lane, Bilerico Project & My Left Wing click to enlarge To quote the Kwisatz Haderach, "Fear Is The Mind-Killer." And I must admit, I fear a McCain/Palin administration and admittedly, I fear a Palin administration even more. If McCain is a maverick, Palin is pure chaos. Why am I so fearful? Where do I even start? First off, I am afraid the American public is still horrifically stupid. They voted for Bush in vast numbers TWICE, plus they gave him swollen approval ratings when it was obvious there was no basis for it. Are these Bush fans thinking, "third time is the charm?" These people are low-information voters and have consisantly voted against their best economic interests time and time again. They just can't seem to get enough of failure, torment and pain. It is quite remarkable. For some unknown reason, these voters do not understand the danger of our deficit, national debt and the debt hole. They do not understand that buying from Walmart puts Americans out of work. They seem to have forgotten that American families used to only need one breadwinner - now it takes two spouses and a pile of credit cards to make ends meet. There was a time in Amercia where we took pride in our national parks. My great grandparents used to think very highly of how we as Americans set aside the Great Smokey Mountains, the Petrified Forest, Yellowstone, Yosemite and the Grand Canyon. I have ancestors that cut the route for the Blue Ridge Parkway. But now the mantra is "drill baby, drill." My parents, grandparents and great-grandparents used to always think about saving and conserving. They all grew up in hard times in the rough patches of West Virginia. "Why buy a new shovel when you can fix the one you have?" was a saying of Andrew Keys, my great-grandfather who spent a lifetime coal mining and keeping a farm near Spanishburg, West Virginia. The Republicans seem to have forgotten how to work together. It is there way and they will advance their position with no outside help. That is a very divisive way of thinking. As some of you may know, I run a soldier support charity, Books For Soldiers. During Katrina, I worked with Michael Moore and Cindy Sheehan to set-up a relief network for residents of the Gulf Coast. We set out to deliver food, medicine and clothing to those who were affected by the hurricane. When some of the Books For Soldiers volunteers figured out that Michael Moore and Cindy Sheehan were helping out, they refused to help Americans in need because, and I quote from their emails, "because the medicine might be delivered by Democrats." No shit. So I fear. I fear that half of this nation will continue to not use their brains and vote for McCain / Palin and we will finally lose America. Forever.

Me Talk Pretty One Day

Failing Ever Upward

Appearing at The Jaundiced Eye, the Independent Bloggers' Alliance, and My Left Wing. Well, if you can't get Bernie Ebbers: Carly Fiorina Live at the RNC photo: AP/Paul Sancya Carly Fiorina, who has been headlining with the McCain campaign -- and was even discussed as a possible running mate -- is being touted as a super-successful vagina-person. A reigning authority on big business and the tech world, or so we're told. Last night she spoke to the convention audience about the wonders of John McCain and with reporters about the travesty of sexist attacks on Sarah Palin. These days, Fiorina is usually described as a former CEO of Hewlett-Packard. Sounds impressive, but it leaves out a few things. Like the fact she's the former CEO because she was fired, loathed by many board members and shareholders, and handed a golden parachute worth over $21 million that resulted in a lawsuit against the company. On the day Fiorina was given her walking papers, HP's stock jumped 7 percent. That's a whole lotta hate. The HP board of directors asked Carly Fiorina to resign last week, ending the six-year reign of the highest-profile woman in American business. HP's dismal financial results provide the easiest explanation for the dismissal: while its revenues are climbing slowly, its stock is down 50 percent since her tenure began, and her poorly conceived and contentious takeover of Compaq has done little to strengthen HP's balance sheet. (The poor performance perhaps justified the board's particularly harsh public statement, which didn't contain the usual excuse of a suddenly demanding family.) But the problem wasn't just the substance of Fiorina's leadership--it was also her style. She had plenty of it. Fiorina brought panache to HP: she combined the showmanship of Steve Jobs with a dash of Donald Trump's ostentatiousness. Instead of working quietly for the first few years to fix the company, she believed that building buzz for herself--including appearances in early TV ads--was key to re-energizing staff and exciting customers. Tech CEOs named Jobs, Ellison and Gates can get away with this; as founders, they seemingly have more leeway in cultivating a cult of personality. But Fiorina's style clanged dissonantly off HP's wonky products and the staid corporate culture that HP founders Bill Hewlett and Dave Packard initiated 65 years ago in a Palo Alto, Calif., garage. Some employees loved her--but many disliked her and were no doubt glad to see her go. Last week, interim CEO Robert Wayman told NEWSWEEK that senior executives "were very pleased with the reaction of the employees to all the communication. They were way more comfortable than [senior execs] had worried they would be." But, Fiorina picked herself up, dusted herself off, and reinvented herself as a political mover and shaker. Thus were we treated to her compassionate words last night about the concerns of average Americans. Today, Americans are concerned about keeping their jobs. They're concerned about keeping their homes; about the rising price of food and fuel. They are concerned about whether they will able to find and afford the right kind of health care. They are concerned about whether they or their children with have the skills and education they need to compete in the 21st Century. Yes. I'm guessing the thousands of workers HP laid off, under her tenure, had many such concerns. At HP, Fiorina developed the reputation of a manager who knocked heads together—or who chopped them off. And there were massive layoffs during her tenure. In 2003, the company announced it would dismiss almost 18,000 people. (That year, the firm posted a $903 million loss on $56.6 billion in revenue.) When the outsourcing of jobs turned into a national political issue, Fiorina became the poster-girl for an industry campaign aimed at blocking any legislation that would restrict a company's ability to can American employees in favor of workers overseas. She and executives from seven other tech companies issued a report that argued that any such measures would hurt the U.S. economy. The best way to increase American competitiveness, they declared, was to improve schools and, yes, reduce taxes. At a Washington press conference, Fiorina said, "There is no job that is America's God-given right anymore. We have to compete for jobs." The remark did not go over well with critics of outsourcing, who have ever since used it as an indicator of corporate insensitivity. Such detached perspective is a whole lot easier when your own fuck-ups net you a $21 million severance. Most of us average folk don't get to make soft landings on big piles of money, when we're shit-canned. Last night she also talked about the importance of corporate transparency and accountability. Hmmm..... In March 2004, after HP shareholders voted 1.21 billion to 925 million to expense stock options, she opposed the move, essentially opting to stick with accounting practices (that were used by other corporations) that did not reveal a company's true value. That same year, Forbes reported that Hewlett-Packard was "among many other U.S. companies that kept offices in Dubai and were linked to Iranian traders there." The article suggested that HP and other countries were skirting export controls to trade with Iran. But, no one should be surprised that Fiorina's star is rising within the Republican Party. She could be its poster child. She embodies the ethic that has driven them since the glory days of Ronald Reagan and the era of greedy excess he ushered in. We have reached escape velocity and launched into the No-Consequences Economy. To pause for a moment of overgeneralization: America used to be about exceptionalism and optimism, a place where anybody could try anything and make it work. Across the business and political spectrum, it's now about entitlement, where everyone deserves a shot but no one gets blamed for screwing it up. Stuff happens, as Donald Rumsfeld said, referring to another affair with no consequences for the architects. (Read more about the consequences of no consequences.) When Bob Nardelli said in September 2006 that he took "full responsibility" for manhandling Home Depot, how was he to know that he'd be kicked out four months later with an extra $210 million in the bank? Or that he'd end up at the wheel of an American icon, Stan O'Neal, who also mouthed the responsibility platitude, received $160 million when he was dumped after billions of dollars of bets went bad and word leaked out that he had toyed with selling the company without talking to his board. Other disgraced Wall Street executives are hot commodities in the job market, valued for their perceived ability to walk through fire and survive. Private equity firms are turning away from deals signed mere months before. J.C. Flowers & Co. even managed to leave Sallie Mae at the altar and not pay the contractually negotiated breakup fee. Housing-industry shills who championed a rising market are keeping their jobs. Banks that made disastrous loans are cutting in line to borrow at below-market rates from the Federal Reserve. "It's amazing, the lack of shame," says Lawrence Mitchell, a George Washington University professor and author of The Speculation Economy: How Finance Triumphed Over Industry. "The guys on Wall Street claim they believe in free markets and are entitled to enormous compensation because of their risk taking. But when they lose, do they say to themselves, 'I'm going to take my losses'? No, they go running to Uncle Ben"—Ben Bernanke, the Federal Reserve chairman—"and he, in a grotesquely irresponsible move, bails them out. After all, we've endured nearly eight nearly 8 years of an incompetent CEO President Portfolio once compared to Fiorina. Fiorina didn't know the industry or the company, and she announced the day she arrived that she had her strategy. No, Fiorina was right at home on that stage and will, no doubt, be right at home in a McCain Administration.

Worse Than Stupid

Sarah Palin is stupid. O.K., I know it's a controversial accusation, and I'll probably be categorized as a bone-headed sexist idiot for putting it in print, but I don't think I'm wrong. No matter how hard the right-wing gasbags try to cook the books, the evidence against John McCain's choice as his VP is just too overwhelming. Troopergate. The loyal Gal Friday for Ted ("The Bridge To Nowhere") Stevens. Using her daughter Bristol as a stage prop. Palin is White Male Privilage grip-wrapped in a skirt. And Palin's ideology is the usual Republican bullshit: Darwin was a fraud. Happiness is a warm AK-47. Ignore those floating icebergs. There's too damned many polar bears. Who cares if Uncle George raped you, you're gonna have that baby anyway. Drill, baby, drill. Not exactly an independent thinker, huh? Palin and McCain will get along just fine. I'm sorry, but anyone who buys into this hateful, superstitious nonsense is stupid and anyone trying to define Palin as a progressive symbol for women's liberation is like calling Jack The Ripper a feminist. It's one small step for Palin and one giant step backwards for every man and woman in the United States if her and McCain win. It's worse than stupid. It's crazy.

McCain - An Achievement You Can Believe In

Crossposted from Left Toon Lane, Bilerico Project & My Left Wing click to enlargeThe last 4 days have left many of us bewildered and sleep deprived. "It is 3am and I can't go to bed now, there may be ANOTHER Palin story that breaks!" But somehow we managed to get some sleep. But after astonishment after astonishment, we continue to shake our head in disbelief and in many cases, utter shock! Some in the punditry have mentioned that "liberals' never saw the Palin pick coming. That is true, I never did. Why? Well, mainly because, I didn't think McCain could be that damn stupid. I gave him a lot more credit than I should have. I thought he would pick someone that would help him compete in the election, to SUPPORT his ticket. But there is one meme that has disappeared from the pundit-o-sphere - disunited Democrats. I am unsure if that is what McCain would have wanted to happen, but somehow, McCain picked the only candidate he could have to unite Democrats in a way that Obama and Clinton could never have done. Thanks!

Brothers

"McCain likes to call himself a 'maverick,' but he votes with George W. Bush more than 90% of the time. That's not a maverick; that's a sidekick." -- Sen. Bob Casey

Heckuva Job, Bushie

No Wonder There's A Housing Crisis, McCain Owns 'Em All!

McCain is a secret Romulan

Crossposted from Left Toon Lane, Bilerico Project & My Left Wing click to enlarge After watching this past weekend's "megachurch debate" McCain showed that he really has only two main planks in his platform - Kill It and Drill It. Killing and drilling is all he seems to know. Obama on the other hand can articulate subtle issues like health care, social injustice, unemployment, off-shoring (as in moving jobs off shore, not drilling), global warming, alternative energy, transportation, and diplomacy. Diplomacy is such a lost art it seems. When faced with a global conflict, deploying a diplomat is cheaper than deploying the 82nd Airborne. A diplomat will need a laptop, cell phone, air fare, hotel room, and a few cab rides. That is dirt cheap when compared to lugging half of Jacksonville, NC all the way around the world. Diplomats may be forceful, but they do not kill, especially innocent civilians. They don't accidentally level schools, hospitals or baby milk factories. McCain has never been able to articulate his ideas about diplomacy, probably because it doesn't involve gunpowder. Lastly, if you don't get today's strip, click HERE.